


gloomy 'til they glue me

by CallicoKitten



Series: but i've been thinking of you fondly for sure [7]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Break Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 03:14:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14967929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallicoKitten/pseuds/CallicoKitten
Summary: Nate brings Ray’s breakfast over to the table, clasps a hand on his shoulder and hisses, “You have so got a type.”-ray is useless at flirting, john is great at it





	gloomy 'til they glue me

**Author's Note:**

> this is sort of part of a longer fic that started out as slowburn john/ray/mick but is mostly john + Legends found family and also some smut which might arrive at some point - there also might be some overlap with that possessed ray fic i wrote because all of these monstrosities started as one 
> 
> also part of my ongoing rambly legends series which you dont really need to have read, just know that mick and ray were a thing and now they're not
> 
> title is from los camp's glue me

The first thing Sara says to him when they get back on the ship is, “Just because you broke up with Rory, Ray, doesn’t mean you’re getting off easy for that shit you pulled with Nora Dahrk.”

And for some reason Wally didn’t know this, any of this, so the most reaction it gets out of anyone is Wally wrinkling his nose and saying, “Really, man, Mick?” Before he tilts his head to the side a little and says, “Actually, maybe I get it?”

Nate drapes an arm around Ray’s shoulders before he can reply and informs Wally gravely that Ray has a type.

“I do not have a type,” Ray protests.

Nate snorts. “ _What_? Of course you have a type, bro. Sara, tell him he has a type.”

Sara is halfway across the bridge by this point, hand in hand with Ava but she still pauses to glance back over her shoulder at them and say, “Ray, you have a type. Get over it.”

And that, by and large, spells out how Ray’s life is going to go across the next few months.

-

Sara tells them John’s going to be sticking around over one of the more awkward dinners Ray’s been part of in his life. It’s the first time he and Mick have been in the same room for more than a few minutes since the break up and it’s not that Ray’s been _avoiding_ him it’s just – Well. It’s easier. For the both of them.

“Apparently, John here doesn’t trust us to handle a few little demons,” Sara says, crossing her arms and shooting John a dark look. “Not that we didn’t just defeat a pretty big one.”

“Beginner’s luck,” John says, smoothly. “Mallus might’ve been a big name back in the day but trust me, down under size isn’t everything.”

“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, John,” Zari says.

John winks at her. “I don’t sugar coat things, love and anyway, you don’t have to be a genius to figure out that releasing millennia old evil entities is _never_ a good move.”

“It worked didn’t it?” Mick rumbles, before adding, “And anyway, I don’t believe in demons.”

And Ray has to bite his tongue to stop himself from pointing out that Mick has in fact _seen_ a demon. He settles for shooting Mick a puzzled but then Mick looks up briefly and Ray feels small and stupid and _oh god_ , like he’s making a mistake so he looks down too quickly and ends up wrenching his neck.

-

Ray helps Nate pack the last of Amaya’s things away into boxes and move them to his room. She’s left behind a lot on account of the whole time travel thing and Nate seems to coping a lot better than Ray would be right now. _Is_ right now.

“How d’you think Constantine decorates?” Nate asks, setting a box down on his bed.

Ray hasn’t really given much thought to that, he’s still kind of stuck on that half second of eye contact he had with Mick in the kitchen so he shrugs. “Pretty cool, probably.”

Nate makes a face. “Really? ‘Cos I’m betting the opposite. Did Ava tell you about the foot?”

Ray frowns. “Do I _want_ to know about the foot?”

Nate shrugs. His gaze is fixed on the box he’s set down, full of Amaya’s old clothes all folded up neatly. His fingers are curled around the edge of it, the tips just brushing the fabric. Ray decides to intervene.

“You wanna watch a movie or something? Play a video game? Z’s got some new ones.”

Nate sighs.

“Or we could – I dunno – get high and watch _Ancient Aliens_?”

Nate snorts at that, finally drags his gaze away from Amaya’s stuff. “Ray, come on. You don’t get high.”

“Well,” Ray says and he’s relieved, oh so relieved. “No, but, I didn’t hunt demons either until recently so…”

Nate smiles, lets go of the box. “You don’t have to do that for me. Although, I gotta admit, I’m pretty intrigued about what kind of stoner you’d be.”

Ray laughs awkwardly, thinks back to the time Sydney talked him in to trying a cigarette after school. “Definitely not the kind that coughs so hard they throw up on their Mom’s favourite rug.”

Nate laughs. “Maybe I should introduce you to the concept of edibles.”

“Yeah,” Ray says. “Maybe not though?”

-

Zari joins them for the movie, says since she _shared a moment with Hex_ she’s got every right to join their post-break up pity sessions. She shoves Ray on the shoulder while Nate’s gone to get more snacks between movies, says, “So, is this thing between you and Mick like, for real done-so or is this just a break?”

She says it all in a rush, like she’s been building up to it all the way through the movie and trying to figure out a polite way to ask it. She must figure his silence means she’s picked an impolite way because she back tracks pretty quickly, starts picking at her nails.

“I mean, not that – you know, it’s just since Amaya’s gone Mick’s decided I’m his friend, or something? At least I think that’s what he’s doing. He sort of just follows me around drinking and telling me whatever I’m  doing is stupid.”

Ray laughs because it’s just so _Mick._

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” He says and it comes out kind of shaky.

Zari breathes in sharply. Ray can tell she’s bracing herself in case he starts crying or something so for her sake he makes a big show of taking a steadying breath, looks back at her with a small half-smile. She exhales, smiles back. “Well, at least I don’t have to worry about _that_ anymore.”

-

He gets postcards from Nora sometimes. From all over time, from all over the world. It’s kind of nice, like having a friend off at camp somewhere or a penpal except Ray’s slightly concerned the next one he reads will be about her murdering someone or something. Only slightly though. _Slightly._

“Got a girlfriend you’re not telling us about, Raymond?” John teases over breakfast. It’s Nate’s turn to cook, he’s making pancakes, gluten-free for Nate but John’s barely touched it. Says he prefers his breakfast liquid. The first time Mick heard that he snorted and grumbled, _man after my own heart._

John leans across the table, smirking at Ray. “Boyfriend?”

Ray sets the postcard down, tries to meet John’s eye but can’t. He can’t help it. John’s just – well, John. “No,” he says, fiddling with the corner of the postcard. “Just Nora.”

“Oh, come _on_ , Ray,” Nate says. “You’ve gotta stop talking to her. If Ava finds out you gave her a time-stone she’ll dismember you. Or at least put you in the medbay for a couple of days.”

John raises a brow. “Nora? As in Nora Darhk? She’s alright then?” He leans forwards like he’s going to try and snatch the postcard but thinks better of it, sits back and settles for smiling at Ray. “You managed to get her out of that mess safely then, eh? Maybe you’re not as useless as you all look then.”

Ray feels warm all over. It probably spreads to his cheeks.

John smiles at him again before he stands up and announces he’s got to go and see a bird about a captain or something and Nate brings Ray’s breakfast over to the table, clasps a hand on his shoulder and hisses, “You have _so_ got a type.”

-

Turns it out it’s pretty easy to re-programme Gideon to track demons instead of anachronisms. All it takes is a few sleepless nights for him and Nate and Zari and John and a weeks supply of coffee. By the time they crack they’re all a little manic, a little wild-eyed.

Sara wrinkles her nose at them. “Sleep it off quickly, guys. I’m guessing those demons won’t wait around.”

“That they certainly will not, Miss Lance,” John says. He stands up, gestures grandly, corrects himself before anyone else has a chance to. “Captain Lance, I meant. _Captain_. Good job, team. Everyone take five. Or ten. I don’t bloody care I just need a drink.”

Ray high fives Nate and Zari and they trail off to their respective rooms but Ray’s too wired to sleep, heads to his lab instead. He’s too wired to do much more than drum his fingers on the bench and check on a few experiments he’s had running for a while. Most of them are on John’s potions, John’s spells so he can pick apart the science of them. He hasn’t found anything yet but he will. He thinks, anyway.

“You know normally I’d be sending Rory in to send you off to bed but I guess this is something I’ll have to be doing on my own from now on,” Sara says from the doorway.

Ray glances up at her. “I’m fine, Sara. I’m not tired.”

Sara laughs to herself as she strolls across his lab. Flicks idly at his tea distillery. "You’ve been awake for three days, Ray. If you want me to call Ava in I will but since we’ve been on demon-duty she’s handling the anachronisms all by herself and she is _stressed._ She could use an easy win.”

“You wouldn’t,” Ray says.

Mick must be walking by, or maybe he’s been lurking out there as back up for Sara because he leans into the room too and says, “Trust me, Haircut. She would.”

Maybe he’s not really thinking about it, maybe he’s just decided there’s no awkward tension between them anymore but whatever it is, Ray’s kind of thrown, stares out at Mick’s retreating form with his mouth half open.

He jumps when Sara touches his arm. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Ray says, but his chest feels tight.

Sara shakes her head. “Go to bed, Ray.”

-

“You should know,” Wally says, a few days later. “Sara and Zari have a bet over whether you and Constantine will hook up or not.”

Ray is half-way through his morning coffee and nearly chokes. Wally’s getting good at hiding his smirks, does a good job of not looking amused while Ray splutters.

“There’s a secondary bet on whether or not Rory’ll throw down with him before that can happen.”

“What? Why are you telling me that?” Ray wheezes.

Wally shrugs, “Just looking out for you, Ray.”

It rattles around in his head for days afterwards, pops up at in opportune moments like while they’re staking out a succubus at a bar in Star City and Ray’s watching John knock back his drink, the way his throat bobs, the way his tongue darts out to lick the last of it from his lips.

Okay, Ray concedes. He _maybe_ has a type.

If John’s noticed, he’s being nice about it. Sitting back in his chair, setting his glass down, keeping the conversation fairly light. “So,” he prompts. “How does Raymond Palmer go from rich as all hell B-list vigilante to legend?”

Ray blinks. It actually takes a few moments to remember how he got here. He’s been Ray Palmer: Legend for so long, he forgets there was a before sometimes. “Well, I was dead for a while,” he starts and John raises his eyebrows in either amusement or polite interest, Ray’s still figuring him out.

“ _Legally_ ,” Ray amends. “I was _legally_ dead and when I got back, it turned out my death hadn’t really meant anything so I figured I could just stay dead for a while, you know? Just until I had things figured out and then, well, Rip showed up, said I could come because I had no impact on the timestream if I left and you know, the rest as they say is history. _Broken_ history, if we’ve got anything to do with it.”

John nods, brings his chair back down onto four legs with a thud. “Got it. Self-worth issues. Nice, simple.”

Ray narrows his eyes. “Hey,” he starts.

John laughs. “Not to worry, Ray. We’ve all got our demons. Word to the wise though, demons – _real_ demons – will smell that shit a mile off and use it against you.”

“Oh,” Ray says, still frowning. John’s still smirking, not unkindly but sort of fondly, sort of like – Ray drops his gaze a moment and changes the subject. “And anyway, I wouldn’t say I was _B-List_. I mean, the Atom had action figures and everything.”

John grins, shows his teeth. “Did you now?”

“Yeah. I actually have a few, I think, somewhere,” Ray starts but he knows John doesn’t really care, is only humouring him so he trails off.

John taps his empty glass on the table. “I’m off for a refill,” he says. “Want one?” Before Ray can answer he’s snatched up his glass anyway and Ray watches him saunter across to the bar and lean across it with a winning smile. The woman behind the bar looks reluctantly charmed when John winks. Ray feels something twist uncomfortably in his gut.

John returns with a whiskey for himself and a lemonade for Ray, as he sets it down he takes the opportunity to lean in close and say, “Now, don’t panic, sunshine, but I think our demonic friend might have her sights set on you.”

Ray, of course, immediately looks and immediately regrets it. She’s pretty enough to look at, all dark curls and light eyes and pouty lips but all Ray can see are the illustrations John showed him before they came out of huge, dark voids in place of mouths and jet-black staring eyes. He shudders, looks back up at John and hopes he doesn’t sound as panicked as he feels.

“That wasn’t part of the plan,” he hisses. “Right?”

John doesn’t look concerned in the least bit. “No,” he says, slight laugh to his words. “No, it wasn’t. Don’t worry. There’s a simple fix. All we’ve got to do is shift her attention.”

“Shift her attention,” Ray repeats. “Right. How do we do that?”

John smirks at him for a split second before cupping Ray’s jaw and raising his head to kiss him. He swallows the little sound of surprise Ray makes against his mouth, tastes like whiskey and ash. “Come on, Ray,” he murmurs, against Ray’s mouth. “You’ve got to make it look believable if you don’t want that thing following you back to the ship.”

He slips his tongue in when Ray opens his mouth to reply and Ray’s eyes flutter shut. He can’t help it. He’s gotta be convincing even if this doesn’t mean anything. Even if this is just for show. Even if this feels really great and John’s a _really_ great kisser.

Then it’s over. John’s stepping away. Ray opens his eyes just as John’s hand drops away and finds John’s gaze is fixed on the succubus. “There we are,” he says, clapping Ray on the shoulder. “You’ll sleep safe and sound tonight, squire.”

Ray’s phone buzzes as soon as John’s slid back into his seat. He pulls it out to find a message from Nate: _Zari says shes pissed bc she owes Sara money what happened bro???_

Ray closes his eyes briefly.

“Uh, you know Zari hacked in the security cameras, right?”

John smirks, winks roguishly. “Don’t like to kiss and tell, eh, Raymond?” His gaze darts up to the succubus and his eyes narrow. “Interesting,” he says.

Ray frowns, “Interesting bad or interesting good?”

John shrugs, eyes still darting back and forth between Ray and succubus. “Interesting _interesting_ , I’d say. Interesting as in we could probably wrap this up pretty quickly.” He winks then and says, “Give her a wave, Raymond. Be polite.”

“This is a terrible idea,” Ray says but he does what he’s told anyway.

It goes on like that for ten or so more minutes before John grabs him gently by the wrist and says, “Come on, sunshine, lets see if this bait is working or not.” He stands, tugging Ray with him and walks them very deliberately past the succubus on their way out.

“This is a terrible, _terrible_ idea,” Ray says, when they step out into the night.

John laughs. “You’ve _really_ got to live a little, Ray, my lad. Now, walk slowly. If our traps worked she won’t be far behind.”

-

The trap does work. Unfortunately, it turns out the succubus knows only too well who John is and things get kind of messy, end with the demon being sent back to hell and laughing at John, promising one of their siblings will get him next time.

Afterwards, John claps him on the back, tells him well done. His eyes are kind of distant, they walk back to Waverider in mostly silence. Sara calls them idiots for not calling in back up or sticking with the initial plan, John grins, tells her he’s still the expert here, love, and anyway, he brought Ray back safe and sound so no harm done, right? Sara rolls her eyes and leaves.

Then Zari comes in and thumps Ray on the shoulder. “Thanks a lot, Ray,” she says, while Sara smirks. “I had money riding on that.”

Ray’s cheeks colour immediately. John narrows his eyes, “Money on what?”

Zari sighs at him. “Don’t worry,” she tells him and stomps off.

“You shouldn’t bet on your shipmate’s lives, you know,” Ray calls after her. “It’s not polite.”

John stares after her too. “Have I missed something?”

“No,” Ray says, far too quickly for it to look smooth and makes his escape down to his lab.

-

It’s less of an escape than he would have liked because he finds Mick already there, sat on one of the lab benches, swinging his legs.

“Oh, Mick,” Ray says, weakly. “Hi.”

Mick doesn’t respond immediately, pushes himself of the lab bench and stands stock-still, eyeing Ray up and down like he’s a piece of meat or really expensive jewellery. Eventually, he inhales, thins his lips. “So, you taking up with Trenchcoat?”

And maybe it’s less of a question than a statement, less of an accusation and more of an admittance of defeat but whatever it is it manages to short-circuit Ray’s brain and all he can manage is a startled, “Um?” Before Mick sighs and rubs at his forehead.

“Make sure he treats your right, Haircut,” he says and then he’s turning towards the lab door and it’s opening and Nate’s striding in with this huge grin on his face and saying, “Dude! I heard someone made a move!”

And Ray sees the way those words fall against Mick, the way his shoulders stiffen slightly, the way he rolls his neck and takes a breath. The way his hands curl and uncurl into half-hearted little fists.

 _Wait,_ he wants to say. _Mick, it wasn’t like that –_

But he kind of wants it to be.

-

John drops by later, after Nate’s gone and Ray’s trying to calm himself down by running some tests on some of John’s spells. John actually _knocks_ which is enough to make Ray start so hard he almost sends a test tube full of dubiously coloured liquid onto the floor.

“Got a minute, sunshine?” John asks from the door.

And Ray can’t really find a reason to say no so he swallows, nods. “Sure, John. What’s up?”

“About earlier,” John says, edging into the lab. He’s speaking slowly, like he’s trying to pick every word he says very carefully. “I’m sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable. I shouldn’t have done it, even if I thought – ” he trails off, shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter. No excuses. I shouldn’t have done it and I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” Ray says, and means it. “It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting but – because, I mean, who would? Expect that, I mean. It’s not exactly stakeout 101. No one’s tried to kiss me like that since – I should shut up now.”

He trails off. John’s watching him with that half-amused, half-fond look most people wear when they’re looking at Ray these days except the annoyance hasn’t set in yet.

“Well, don’t stop on my account,” John says and Ray feels his cheeks start to heat up, avoids John’s gaze as his smirk grows. John takes a sly step forward. “Just thought I’d make sure I wasn’t stepping on any toes.”

“Nope,” Ray says, voice all tight. “No toes here to step on. I mean, I _have_ toes, of course – or maybe it shouldn’t be _of course_ because there are probably people born without toes or people who lose them and that doesn’t mean they’re not – ”

“Alright, sunshine,” John says, still smirking. “Don’t hurt yourself. I get what you mean.”

“Oh,” Ray says, stumbling to a halt. “Well, um. Good?”

John tilts his head. “Is it?”

Ray’s mouth goes very dry. He’s been sort of bad at this since Felicity, since Kendra. Since he laid it all out at their feet and got his heart broken and it’s not their fault, he would never, _ever_ begrudge them that it’s just, well, he’s not had the best luck lately and –

“Ray,” John says, quietly, encouragingly. “I kind of need a response here.”

Ray swallows. Remembers a conversation he had with Sara a few weeks ago which was less of a conversation and more Sara sighing at him and saying, “Oh my god, Ray. Ending things with Mick was a good thing and you did it on _your_ terms. Now either go back to him or move on because I can’t take _both_ of you moping around the ship anymore.”

“It is,” Ray says, finally. Then, because he’s not one hundred percent sure he actually said it out loud he repeats himself. “Yes. It is.”

John grins, snorts. “Well, glad we got that sorted then,” he says and there’s a slight edge of awkwardness to his tone that gives Ray this weird sort of swooping feeling in his chest.

“Yup.” Ray says. “So, uh – ”

John looks at him expectantly and whatever Ray was thinking of saying dies in his throat. After a moment, John laughs, shakes his head. “You know, Captain Lance thinks I’m developing a type.”

Ray smiles. “I keep hear something similar.”


End file.
